How to Organize Thoughts to Write Better Articles

Writer's Block

Sometimes the hardest part of writing is just getting started. Each article begins with an idea, but translating that idea into words that easily communicate to others requires organization. There is one technique that may make it easier to get the flow of thoughts moving to the keyboard. It just requires an organized approach to writing. By reducing what begins as a complex task—creating a full article from beginning to end— from nothing but an idea, to finite, doable bits, getting the article into a word processing program should flow nicely in a reduced period of time.

Difficulty:

Moderately Easy

Instructions

1. Begin to organize the article by considering three elements of good communication: each article has an introduction, theme and recapitulation.

2. Decide approximately how many words the article should have and apportion them among the three main elements, using rough percentages. As a general rule, the introduction might contain 20 percent, the theme 70 percent and the recapitulation 10 percent.

3. Create an outline in word processing software. For a 600-word article on organizing thoughts for writing, this might equal:Introduction (20 percent = 120 words)Theme (70 percent = 420 words)Recapitulation (10 percent = 60 words)

4. Begin fleshing out the outline. Expand each section by writing short sentences that either pose questions or describe what will be discussed. Examples of questions for the Introduction could be “What’s the purpose of the article?” and “Who is it written for?” Give each of these topics half the allotted word count.

5. Continue the same process through the theme and recapitulation sections. Here’s the way the rest would look in outline format:1. Theme (420 words)a. How does one start writing using building blocks? (120 words)b. Provide specific examples using this method (300 words)2. Recapitulation (60 words)a. Restate/paraphrase the purpose of this article (30 words)b. Point out some additional benefits of the method (30 words)

6. Begin writing the article. Pick an element—not necessarily in linear order, but with whatever part of the outline feels ready to emerge. Write at least the beginning sentence of the first paragraph of that section. If it feels natural, keep going until fairly close to the intended word count for this part. If not, move on to another piece of the outline and repeat this process. By the end, using this method, the article practically will write itself. As an added benefit, there should be a clear flow from one idea to the next.

Tips & Warnings

• The above word counts or percentages are approximate. They are neither absolute nor final. They simply provide the writer a way to think about the developing article as it will be translated from the mind to the computer.

• Use the word count feature of word processing software occasionally to ensure one topic is not being over-weighted.

• As a test of readability, read what has been written aloud.

Resources

• The Elements of Style--a Writer's Bible